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You no longer have to work and are extremely wealthy, what hobbies would you like to pursue?
Assume you have all the wealth necessary to do whatever. Money can buy all the things and grant you access to do your favourite things, but time is something is valuable and priceless. What would be worth your value to you because you simply enjoy it?
I'd become an angel investor in less exciting industries like agriculture and food production, investing in small businesses at low rates. A lot of the time they can't get loans at all because they're fairly risky, but if I've got all the money I need, I can afford to have a hobby that involves $500k investments. It would be something interesting, but it would also do a lot of good in the world.
You'd also meet a lot of good people that would enrich your life in many ways other than money.
I'd still want to see my current startup through, no question about it, but I'd hire a few extra devs to unblock maybe 50% of my own time. I found it absolutely fascinating back when I was coding fluid dynamic simulations for academic purposes, it was the perfect combination of physics, applied maths, and computational problem solving, so I'd very much enjoy having some time to focus back on pure research without worrying about commercial application.
Beyond that, I would love to buy a pub, not so much as a business but as the old style of community hub. The kind of place where you can drop in just because you happen to be passing, and know that you'll find someone to talk to. Somewhere that serves as everybody's living room.
I also hope to travel as much as humanly possible (constrained by time and money - doubly so if I try to do so by finishing my pilot's license), and if we're really going all out my dream since childhood has been to go into space.
All of this is pretty much my life plan as it stands anyway. Winning the lottery would let me do it completely on my terms and my schedule, rather than relying on trade-offs, risks that may or may not come to fruition, and a very healthy dose of luck.
From my standpoint, this makes you an undisputed genius
As much as I love the nostalgia of it all, my friends in this kind of business love to remind me of how tough it is to manage such establishments
I think that would make it very hard for you to manage a pub and make complex fluid dynamic simulations!
All great plans, though ;)
Well thank you! I'm 99.99% certain that this is entirely untrue, but it put a very large smile on my face nonetheless.
I have no doubt that it is. In the ideal hypothetical world, I'd like to hope that running it rent-free and just at break even on stock and wages would take an awful lot of the pressure off, but even then it'd be a job I'd want to share with a few trusted and experienced people to spread the workload.
I imagine it'd still be a tiring, stressful, time consuming labour of love - but with any luck one that's worth it all the same!
One of the things I like about the idea of independent research (and one of the reasons I'm not pursuing academia as a career) is that nobody's pressing deadlines - no harm in taking a break and then publishing this year's work in the middle of next year. Now I just need to make sure that my trusted team can keep the pub ticking over for a few weeks without me and I can do a "3 months on, 1 month travelling" schedule pretty much as long as I like. How hard can it be, right...?!
I like to think so - it'll be fascinating to see how they pan out when tempered by the constraints of reality!
Forgot to ask: what does your startup do? ;)
That's awesome. Children don't have the filters adults have, and advertising for them should be prohibited altogether. Many contents also fail to ascertain the intellectual level of children of different ages, I remember it was very frustrating being treated like a dummy when I was a kid! I'd love to check out your website, feel free to share the link.
I do have an interest in Lisp, but last time I tried learning it I took such a humiliating beating that I decided to learn Python and C first. I still love everything lisp related, especially Emacs, but for now my relationship with the language will remain limited to my humongous init file.
I intend to work with lisp in the future, not only for personal curiosity, but I also believe it can give me concrete professional advantages. It would be very hard to be hired as a lisp programmer in my country, but I intend to have my own business and this is a language that would certainly give me an edge in the market. And yes, of course, Clojure is definitely on my radar! Thanks!
You startup seems really nice and well intentioned. The thing I have with projects like yours is that they are closed and they will only reach a certain audience that:
From my experience, I've found my biggest interests in youtube just randomly surfing. And those are the topics that marked me the most. I know that is is kind of hard to find economical sustanability while openning up the educational resources, but the truth is that opening them up will literally change many young pelople's lives.
Given the hypothesis of you being super wealthy perhaps would you consider transforming your startup into a non-profit like khanacademy as Salman Khan did?
I think Gregs project is very different from Khan Academy, which is mostly concerned with math, science and technical efforts in general. If I where a concerned parent (I'm neither), I'd look for ways to get my kid off the YouTube and away from people like Logan Paul and pewdiepie. I might look for something educative, but in the way Sesame Street or Fred Rodgers were educative, not like a trigonometry lesson on the internet. Most kids hate trigonometry (probably with reason). Sometimes you can't verify everything your child watch, and a service that provides a never-ending source of positive, quality, enriching content might be worth even more than US$ 5 a month.
I'm not saying it would be easy, though.
Correct. Unfortunately capitalism requires us to limit access in order to sustain a project typically (the tildes project is an example of the opposite). I'm just saying that some people just can't afford it we are having an influx of kids in developing countries who are not able to afford such a price and they would not have
When I think of libraries of content like that one, skillshare, udemy, etc are super valuable but since they are closed, once the main website closes, all the content goes down with it just like the library of Alexandria.
And making it a non-profit venture with open access only makes it better for society.
We're blurring the line between the hypothetical and the real here, and that's making me wary about confidentiality, so I will simply say this: access is hugely important to us, and it's our goal to reach as many families as possible - we're working with people who we hope can help us to make that happen!
Regarding your website, I have a few comments:
Main Page
The Hub
1.The concept of hub makes me thing I'll have access to many different stuff links, but it only links to "Videos"+Videos Section
General Comments
There are lots of websites out there trying to grab our attention. Most of them don't require a subscription. I get that you're providing high-quality content and that is not free, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to subscribe to pay you money before you prove to them that you're content is both good and large. And the way to do that is by reducing the focus on getting free-trials upfront. Curate a sizeable representation of your content and give it for free. Put it on youtube (with links to your website, of course). Get some kids hung up on your videos. Create some buzz. And, by all means, charge. Just be smart about it ;)
I'd start collecting Vinyl. Might even start up a boutique record label, and build some proper fully-analog recording studios. God knows all the local radio stations suck, so I could buy up one of those and return it to the pre-Clearchannel glory days of radio. Wouldn't be hard to beat every other station within a hundred miles on programming.
I might start up a local tech incubator, tie it to the local colleges (and why not tie in the radio station as well). Find a nice, big, old cozy building near a market street or park avenue with lots of restaurants and cheap apartments within walking distance, fix it up, run some fiber in, and give the kids a place to play so they don't have to go straight into soul-killing corporate tech work after graduation. I'd toss some funding into the local library system while I was at it.
If I had money to burn, I'd invest in nuclear power projects likely to put 25-50MW power generation capacity into a shipping-container sized reactor - preferably with a 15+ year service lifespan and able to be operated in flawless safety by high-school graduates. It's the single most important invention we'd be capable of building in the next several decades and would likely avert wars over water resources and a lot of climate change damage. I suppose I'd have to invest in the de-stupidification of the general public about nuclear power as well.
I'd write, and eat out a lot, and attend more concerts and shows. I'd probably travel a bit more often. I imagine I'd build up one hell of a library of RPG-related books, I can think of several systems I'd track down hard-copy of every single book released. I might even get into designing a tabletop rpg sometime. I think I'd find a good local location and open a proper gaming store, something with publicly-open computers, comfy furniture, and a couple cozy rooms for rpg sessions. If cannabis were fully legalized here I'd bankroll a local dispensary. Might also bankroll a proper brew pub with at least 100 taps and a killer menu, I even know who I'd pick to run the place. The local pub/beer scene around here is twenty years in the past, would be easy to beat.
I have a friend who has some rather visionary and fascinating ideas about what a next-gen mmo ought to be like. We've talked about it at length on many occasions. I'd toss him a couple million and see what he can come up with.
There's a large wildlife preserve abutting my property. I'd pick up a 4-wheeler and spend more time tooling around up there again like I did in my childhood. I'd probably invest in the group overseeing that preserve, possibly even expand it.
Oh, and I'd take care of Tildes' financial needs with some large donations. ;)
The one thing I wouldn't do is have an alarm clock in the same house anymore.
if I had millions to give I'd probably give it to you for this very cozy vision :)
Especially the perspective of local tech incubator - it seems reasonable for a place like that to exist (in 600k city I live in), but a quick browse has shown me that closest to that would be "tech hub" consisting of web-dev conferences mostly...
also, +1 for the alarm clock..
I'd seriously study playing the piano. I used to play on and off without any lessons, only playing for myself as a hobby. I would read and practice Hanon lessons, then try sight reading the pieces I wanted to learn (mostly Chopin) or would take a stab at learning Jazz theory with Mark Levine's Jazz Piano book.
That, and if I'm so extremely wealthy, cooking. I can cook very well right now, but most of my meals rely on extremely strict budget things. I have cookbooks of all different levels that call for constant things I can't afford (ex. cuts of meat; seasonal vegetables).
Absolutely agreed. In fact I would just find the most talented music teachers and take lessons constantly. I would be so happy to just spend the rest of my life learning guitar and mandolin.
Yes, all this and more.
I love music and it is painful that I can't make my own. But I never have enough time or motivation to practice playing an instrument. The best I have ever gotten was with a penny whistle, and that's a fairly limited instrument. Ideally I would like to learn how to play the uilleann pipes.
And there are so many classic synthesizers I would love to play around with.
As a hobby I polish stones. I'd probably pay for a little workshop and some machinery to make this easier, and for travel so I could go to different beaches to get stones to polish.
My other hobbies include reading English NHS bureacratic documents. (I'm not joking about this, but people seem to think I am whenever I mention it.) I'd like a nicer home office, with a better computer and nicer chair. (These are things I'm saving up for.)
I used to enjoy developing black and white photos from film. I'm not sure I'd like to set up a dark room again, but I'd like a nice camera.
I'd be interested in seeing donating to non-American youtubers, and paying to have content subtitles translated to all the EU languages.
I'm also interested in Quality Improvement, and I'd give money to my local mental health trust to help them with their QI work.
I'd give a lot of money to local charities. Gloucestershire Young Carers and the Nelson Trust both do good work.
What is it about NHS docs that grabs you?
I want to say I have a "fixed and repetive interest", which is a feature of autism. But I'm not diagnosed, so I call it a hobby instead because I'm uncomfortable with self diagnosis. (Only for myself, I don't care what other people do).
It started because I wanted to find out more about "Foundation Trusts" and how they work. The elevator pitch is easy enough (they have more financial control and can make more of their own decisions) but there's some complexity in the details, and that lead me to things like board structure and how each part of the organisation holds a different part to account. That lead to quality improvement, and that interest has lead to actual paid work, so it isn't entirely wasted.
Hun, yeah I don't really know anything about the field, but can't help feel it's a good thing someone with no professional stake is looking at, what seem like documents that are not really intended to reach the outside world. Yes you said it has lead to work but if it's primarily a hobby, that's got to give a more objective view than if your or a colleagues job is on the line.
I'd build a non-profit secret lab.
I know this sounds crazy, and I'm making a lot of assumptions, but I would spend all my time trying to develop brain computer interfaces and exo-cortices. I currently can't afford the equipment and would have a hard time convincing a doctor to cut a hole into my skull so that I can get neural probe arrays inserted into my brain. I'm really excited for the neural lace startup Elon Musk is doing. I believe this is the key to immortality. By growing external brains that are connected to your brain, maybe you can decentralize your consciousness then when your original biological brain dies, you would survive. If you had a network of 100 brains, then when your original brain dies then you'd only lose 1% of yourself, it would be like having a stroke instead of dying.
The other hobby is the pursuit of AGI. I have some theories that I haven't been able to model mathematically but it's something I think about when I'm driving. It would be nice to have a team of other hobbyists from various disciplines working together on this. No pressure to publish papers. Nobody to answer to. Just all working together for the fun of it.
That sounds cool. But, if you ever get rich, please be careful :/
Man I do not believe you wouldn't buy the 10k bike. I would totally buy the titanium salsa and put industry9 wheels on it and spec out sram red with hydraulic brakes and eagle 1x12. Hell I may even go electronic shifting.
Why wouldn't you buy a $10,000 bicycle?
But the hypothetical says all the necessary wealth.
"...wrapped the impala around a telephone pole. Said oh brother, and go buy another."
Yea, but think of the hassle of having to buy a new bike every time one gets stolen.
That's when you budget for a street beater. Love my mountainbike, but it isn't exactly my cup of tea popping over to the coffeeshop. Just think of all the money you could sink into a sleeper bike for riding about town!
I'd buy a fully decked-out adventure touring motorcycle, either a BMW R1200GS or a Honda VFR1200X...hey, maybe one of each, since we've said money is no object, and that would let me ride the Honda while the Beemer is in the shop getting its $500 oil changes...
Then I'd ride it around the world. All around the US, trying every type of regional cuisine we have. Alaska to Tierra del Fuego on the Pan-American Highway. Pick an overland route through Europe and Asia.
I've done motorcycle touring / camping before, but only a max of a week or two. It's my absolute favorite way to travel.
Flying a small Cessna over Oceania islands. Better with water landing gear. Freely choosing views like this, and going to a swim at those shores would be probably the best living experience I could get on this planet. Warm ocean, white sand, tall blue skies and pure serenity... a paradise on Earth.
In no particular order
Upgrade my bicycles and do some European and Asian bikepacking.
Start a nonprofit that helps get back on track parents whose kids get taken by social services.
Learn to fly airplanes
Scuba diving
More time with family
Make a Neil Breen movie.
I want to do my masters, and try my hand at being an academic. I wouldn't have to worry about making a living while doing my MA and PhD. I'd probably often travel to small towns where I can study in silence and breathe in fresh and clean air. I don't want anything else from life, TBH. I'd probably be buying loads of books I'll never read, though.
Where do I start?
Writing, lots, including code. I'm already meaning to play around with Solid.
One hell of a lot of travel, intending to spend at least a month or two in each country I visit so that I can spend time with subcultures as well as the nationally dominant one. There might be a novel or two in there.
The jewelry and lapidary hobby needs a 3-D printer which can do metal, and some better quality opal rough. I've been meaning to start faceting.
Always wanted to hike the Appalachian and Pacific Coast Trails, though my hips might be getting too creaky. Kayaking the Great Lakes coasts is another little pastime that's on the agenda.
I'd love to take up classical guitar again, and maybe get good enough to take on ensemble jazz.
There's always gardening to do, with some fun to be had in community gardening and food bank projects.
There's rural community broadband work, and packet radio stuff that's sounded interesting for a while.
Don't get me started on political projects - that's a potential life commitment, not a hobby.
I'd continue working on the stuff I do for a living, but without pressure and focusing on the long term. At least that what I like to think I would do :)
I'd still study programming, but on my own pace and only the things I find interesting. Never touch anything "corporate". Make lots of games with Godot and maybe Unity. Try to achieve some success as a game dev without financial concerns. Master Python and make some useful stuff. Master Lisp, become an Emacs dev and make my own programing language. Make some minimalistic single-purpose Linux distros. Try to be a positive force in the open-source community.
Also food: both eating in the best restaurants in the world and really learn how to cook, especially meats and Italian.
do more BJJ, rebuild motorcycles.
I'd still work as a programmer, but pro bono for non-profits or other organizations, or just working at startups.
Probably get into hobbyist-level hacking.
Lots of hiking and camping.
Food. Cooking, eating, sharing. Going to different countries to try their local cuisine.
Martial arts. I've only ever been able to get a little into it, but I've enjoyed the experiences I've had.
Dedicate more time to learning to play music.
Maybe try my hand at writing a book.
Lockpicking, because why not?
Maybe dabble in some game programming.
Probably start a program to teach kids programming early on. Provide laptops and everything so low-income kids don't have to worry.
Maybe start some scholarships because fuck student loan debt.
Depending on the level of wealth, maybe do some political lobbying and try to make a positive change.
There are quite a few things, really. Quite a lot of what I want to do doesn't even require much wealth. I'm only limited by a lack of money.
Those all sound like great ideas.
I've been thinking about an answer to this question for a few days, and then it suddenly strikes through my head during a train trip: I think I would study to become an historian, and maybe write historic novels
After paying down all debts and getting my family secured, siblings college paid for, etc.......
Go back to school myself. I never finished my degree. Firstly, because I didn't know what I wanted to get a degree in. Then, by the time I thought I had an idea, I could no longer afford it. So school first, probably all the way to a doctorate.
After that, build the most BA gaming computer I could. Within a certain amount of reason anyway. Follow that up by a true game room with all the bells and whistles.
Ideally, I'd start to travel. I'd love to see the Colosseum and ruins of the ancient world.
Probably go back to school to learn to code and everything necessary to make my own video game.
Start a foundation that furthers research into VR and how it can be applied to policing, medicine, etc